[GRASSLIST:3717] First time user - OSX - questions

GRASS GRASS user
1

Hello

  I am a GUI designer in San Jose, CA, and I am developing a DVD of mountain bike trails
which require maps. I have found a large collection of files at the USGS archives which may
come in handy for creation of 3D maps for illustrating some of my trails.

  I have a Dual 2GHz G5 which is running Mac OSX Panther 10.3.4 and X11. I installed Grass
GIS a while back and, after totally screwing up the settings, I decided to uninstall it and re-
install it to "start over". After following the uninstall directions, I was left with an un-usable
OS which would boot but not operate.

  I re-installed the OS and now I'm scared to install Grass GIS. I'd really like to take a look at
it, but I'm worried that I may mess the settings up again and be left with a useless Grass
install - if not an OS that needs to me re-re-installed.

  Questions:

Do I need to me a "Unix guru" command-line junkie to use this app? How much of the app is
driven by the command line?

My aim is to generate 3D maps. I think I remember seeing some screenshots of 3D
landscapes using Grass GIS. Is this possible, or should I look elsewhere for this feature?

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance,

--------------Steve

2

While GRASS seems scary at first, it is quite workable once you get over the initial hump of installing it. Lorenzo Moretti has done a great job making mac installation easy. I highly suggest going to his site here and downloading the two files you will need. It is sometimes hard to log on to his ftp site (only 15 users at a time allowed), but it is worth the wait.

http://wwwamb.bologna.enea.it/forgrass/

One has all the libraries, the other has GRASS 5.3. I have had really good luck with his packages so far. 5.3 is also a little more user friendly, check out the Display manager, it is like a layers palette (sort of) for Adobe Illustrator.

You might need to use the command line interface a little bit, but most of what you want to do should be possible via the GUI. I have made tons of 3D maps on various macs (dual G4s, single G4s, etc.) and it is very easy once you get the hang of it. NVIZ is the program within GRASS that makes those maps, and it is very simple to use.

Good luck,
Ian

On Jun 18, 2004, at 11:21 AM, Steve Dorsey wrote:

Hello

  I am a GUI designer in San Jose, CA, and I am developing a DVD of mountain bike trails
which require maps. I have found a large collection of files at the USGS archives which may
come in handy for creation of 3D maps for illustrating some of my trails.

  I have a Dual 2GHz G5 which is running Mac OSX Panther 10.3.4 and X11. I installed Grass
GIS a while back and, after totally screwing up the settings, I decided to uninstall it and re-
install it to "start over". After following the uninstall directions, I was left with an un-usable
OS which would boot but not operate.

  I re-installed the OS and now I'm scared to install Grass GIS. I'd really like to take a look at
it, but I'm worried that I may mess the settings up again and be left with a useless Grass
install - if not an OS that needs to me re-re-installed.

  Questions:

Do I need to me a "Unix guru" command-line junkie to use this app? How much of the app is
driven by the command line?

My aim is to generate 3D maps. I think I remember seeing some screenshots of 3D
landscapes using Grass GIS. Is this possible, or should I look elsewhere for this feature?

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance,

--------------Steve